I have had the best day. It started this morning with breakfast. I met with my mentor and friend, now 64 years old, who just started a website with his poems, essays, columns, and a link to his wife's artwork.

I got to work and plugged into the blogosphere, where my friends were waiting to share new insights and express more outrage.

I found a link to last week's Universalist Unitarian sermon entitled "Anyway" about what to do with the results of the election as a progressive person of faith. The message: acknowledge the basic goodness of every human being and work toward justice anyway.

I had a hilarious pun e-mail exchange with my friend Chester about the latest Kerry joke -- "Hey John, why the long face?"

This afternoon brought a new link to a site called "sorryeverbody.com" -- www.sorryeverybody.com where people have taken pictures of themselves with a message to the rest of the world apologizing for the outcome of the latest American election charade. And they're funny and beautiful and haunting and so utterly human and connected that, really, how can you not be cheered?

It works. This whole community-building thing is a good idea. Thank god. I was starting to wonder.